Team Travel Made Easy: Parent Consent Letters

Travel With Minors for Sports Team Trips

Crossing the US/Canadian border with minors for sport team trips is an amazing experience for children. It can be easy or it can be extremely difficult depending on the amount of research and preparation you do. Sport team trips may be with school or with a club team. Either way, those who are in charge of the children need to make sure that they have all of the proper documentation in order. This is true whether the children will be traveling with a parent, guardian, or personnel from the school, such as their coaches. Travel consent letters are key to a smoother boarder crossing. The lawyers at Kahane Law Office in Calgary, Alberta can prepare and/or notarize your sport team trip parental consent travel letter.

Why Are Notarized Sport Team Trip Parental Consent Travel Letters Needed?

The officers working both sides of the border are very aware of child abduction problems. They are on the lookout for these crimes. When you are traveling with minor children, you will find that the border agents will tend to ask quite a few questions and require paperwork before they will allow the children to cross the border. If you aren’t able to supply the paperwork, you might find they put a halt to the entire trip. This is even true when you are traveling with a large group for a school sports team trip. A sport team trip parental consent travel letter lets these boarder officials know that they kids are allowed to cross the boarder. It reassures them that the parents authorized the specific chaperons to take the kids out of the county.

What Documentation Is Necessary?

Children who are under 16 will be able to enter the US or Canada if they have one of the following types of documents – passport (US or Canadian), original or a copy of their birth certificate, naturalization certificate, Canadian citizenship card, or a consular report of birth abroad.

They will likely need to have a notarized letter stating that they are able to travel with the people they are with on the trip. These are the sport team trip parental consent travel letters. They will need to have one of these consent letters if they are less than 18 years old. This needs to be signed by the parents who are not on the trip, and it helps if it is notarized to be binding and effective. The border agents may still ask the children some basic questions to make sure that everything is okay, although this generally only happens with smaller groups or when traveling alone with one or two children.

Even with a notarized sport team trip parental consent letter, the border agents may still stop the vehicle and disallow entry or exit. They make a judgment call and base their decision on the documents and whether they believe something may be wrong.

When traveling with a large group for a school sports trip, it’s generally simple to get through the border as long as the kids and the chaperones have all of their paperwork in order. Those who are in charge of the group should have access to the sport team trip parental consent travel letter, as this is likely what the agents will want to see. Another good idea is to call the border to let them know you are coming and that you have all of the proper documentation available. This can help to speed up the process.

Save Money With Group Travel Letter Signings

Kahane Law Office can help your sport team save money. Our lawyers can arrange group signing of sport team trip parental consent travel letters. We can do this at your school, practice facility or club house. We can also arrange group pricing for sport team trip parental consent travel letters at our Calgary, Alberta office with appointments or drop in. If you have any questions or concerns about just what you need when you are crossing the border with a group of children, make sure that you get in touch with our lawyers. We offer walk-in or while-you-wait service in the Calgary, Alberta office. We can be reached toll-free at 1-877-225-8817 (or 403-225-8810 locally in Calgary, Alberta), or email us directly here.